Vietnam Veterans Mark 11th Year of ‘Welcome Home’

HARRISON – The 11th Annual Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day program was held Saturday, March 26 at Harrison American Legion Post 404. The pre-program coffee hour provided time to chat up friends and make more friends. It was also a time to begin perusing the more than 184 drawing prizes which had been donated, along with several larger items which were to be auctioned off at the end of the day. Joe Prato, president of Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 1047, noted that this day’s fundraising effort was the VVA’s single fundraising effort, and that it benefited solely Vietnam Veterans.

Leading off the 11 a.m. ceremony was the Honor Guard Posting of Colors, followed by placing the folded American Flag for departed comrades adjacent to the plaque memorializing those 58,479 service personnel who did not return from Vietnam.

Joe Prato gave a welcoming address acknowledging the fact that this year a lot of veterans were no long present, taken by the last two years of COVID-19. He began his talk by noting how few people, other than family, told returning Vietnam Veterans “Welcome home.”

“They said we were the lucky ones,” Prato said. “But they didn’t see the hidden scars that the war left on us. They didn’t know about Agent Orange, and we were never told that we were sprayed with dioxin that would eventually kill us.”

He said that while veterans were happy to be home alive, they also felt guilt and anger, retreating into their own private shells and never spoke about the war. They lashed out, unaware of PTSD and depression caused by the loss of those with whom they served.

“We pay tribute to those who have laid to rest today, and reaffirm one of our most fundamental obligations: to show all of that have worn the uniform of the United States the respect and dignity they deserve. In Vietnam, there “in country” as they say, they found something else: the Brotherhood. That was one thing they soon learned they could bet their lives on. The sacred bond Vietnam Veterans had with each other is a bond that has never been, and never will be, broken.

“So, when they returned home to a nation which was at its best indifferent, and at worst contemptuous of them, they relied on that bond. Vietnam Veterans adopted a heart-rendering custom of greeting each other with a simple Welcome home. It is a custom they practice to this day. Today, Vietnam Veterans Chapter 1047 welcomes you home, and like all other veterans that served, we are proud of you. Welcome home, and thank you for coming.”

Ken Spiegel spoke next, beginning by acknowledging Prato’s comments, which he said told the truth and told it like it was.

“Nobody knows how we felt when we came home,” he said, going on to say that he went to Vietnam in September 1965 and after being shot twice that December, with the second shot breaking his arm, he was shipped home in January 1966.

“So, I didn’t spend a long time there,” Spiegel said. “But I was there twice in ’63 – so we were there before we got there. A lot of people didn’t realize that – a lot of people didn’t know that – but we were there.”

He went onto describe which Marine Divisions and regiments that entailed.

“I was really happy to get home,” he said. “I’m even happier to have met the people that I’ve met now that were there. Because it brought back memories to me, and I like to pass them on to others.

“And who are we? We’re the teachers, whether we like it or not. We were there, we had our feet on the ground, we had our sails in the water.”

He went on to say Vietnam War started in 1962, and that his brother was there in that year with the fleet Marine force, serving in Laos while Ken was in boot camp.

“So, it’s been a long haul for me,” Spiegel said. “And to see this day, no matter how many people we get here, it always makes me feel a lot better – because I know there’s others out there that got the same thing I did when they got home.”

Spiegel went on to express his gratitude to those who enable the day’s event.

“If you served any time, any place and people were shooting at you, their intent was to kill you,” he said. “Not to harm you, to kill you. We came home, and we were told to go back – they didn’t want us here. Well, we’re still here.”

Spiegel then welcomed all who attended, many who came a distance and did so on a cold day on occasionally slippery roads.

“This is OUR day, and we welcome all veterans home,” he said. “Because we do not want another era of our veterans treated like we were treated. So, if you’re other than a Vietnam Veteran – welcome home, too.”

Spiegel then closed with some additional sincere sentiments, saying “I love being here; this is my whole life – 22 years, and I’d do it all again. Thank you.”